INDIANAPOLIS  There is no hiding what the Chargers’ priority is this offseason.

“I’m not giving away any secrets,” head coach Norv Turner said of his freely referring to the Chargers needing a pass rusher recently. “… It doesn’t mean you have to take one with the first pick. When we were at our best we had people coming off the edge you had to prepare for and handle.”

Why try to deny it?

The Chargers ranked last in the NFL in third-down defense, and their total of 49 sacks and interceptions ranked 22nd among the 32 NFL teams last season. They’re simply not getting enough game-changing plays, and that has to change.

“I want a dominating, dictating defense,” General Manager A.J. Smith said recently. “Not a game, not half a season, I want it all the time. We have not had consistency with it. Until we fix that …”

No one knows what the mad man will do in the draft, but it is certain that anyone of consequence with a hand in making such decisions for the Chargers was paying close attention Monday as the defensive ends and outside linebackers worked out at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Where the drills here can be dismissed at many positions, some of the players who worked out Monday can actually show a lot. Most important, the movement and change of direction in drills will give NFL teams an idea how a guy who played defensive end in a 4-3 college defense will be able to handle the added requirements of playing outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense.

“That’s why some of what they do here is so valuable,” said John Spanos, Chargers director of college scouting. “Yeah, they’re in shorts and T-shirts. Still, we get to see athletically what they can do.”

Monday, for instance, was the first real look teams get at USC’s Nick Perry, South Carolina’s Melvin Ingram and Illinois’ Whitney Mercilus dropping as if in coverage. Those first-round talents played end in college but translate to outside linebackers in a 3-4 defense such as the Chargers’.

All three of those players demonstrated impressive aspects to their game, probably impressing more than even anticipated. In fact, Ingram’s athleticism likely secured is spot ahead of Alabama’s Courtney Upshaw, who actually played outside linebacker in college.

At the very least, Monday will further prompt teams in search of 3-4 outside linebackers to be more interested at the players’ respective Pro ays.

The Chargers in 2005 took Shawne Merriman, who played a hybrid end/linebacker position at Maryland, with the 12th overall pick. That worked out well, at least for three years. With the 16th pick in 2009, the team tried to get Merriman’s replacement in Larry English, who played end exclusively at Northern Illinois. Injuries have been the biggest impediment to English’s matriculation, but so has a slow learning curve as he’s learned to play from a standing-up stance and from wider on the line, as well as be involved in coverage.

“The challenge is usually in college football there is not a lot of 3-4 defense,” said Pittsburgh Steelers GM Kevin Colbert. “So you don’t get to see those outside linebackers play the position you’re going to project them to. There’s a lot of guess work — mainly how they’ll be able to cover just because that’s one aspect you don’t get to see a lot of the 4-3 defensive ends do in college football. You’ll see some of that evidence on film when they do some zone-dropping in their schemes but a lot of it will be dependent on the workouts. They’ll do one here and then we can continue on their individual pro day workouts and follow up with that.”

Colbert found LaMarr Woodley in the second round in 2007. Smith got Shaun Phillips in the fourth round in 2004. Terrell Suggs, who has 29½ sacks the past three seasons, and DeMarcus Ware, whose 99½ sacks are most in the NFL since 2005, were defensive ends in college. All four are outside linebackers in a 3-4 defense.

The draft process reveals flaws more than anything, and coaches and scouts will break down every prospect’s flexibility and footwork over the next month or so, today and at campus Pro Days.

But for all that will be said, most important will be the ability to get to the quarterback that is seen on film.

And the most important of those abilities is disrupting the quarterback.

Perry was candid about his preference to play in a 4-3, due to his preference of starting plays with his hand on the ground, and he seemed somewhat concerned about having to develop new skills if drafted by a 3-4 team. But he knows what his most valued asset is.

“I can handle both,” Perry said. “I prefer 4-3 ... But as long as I’m rushing and getting to quarterback, I’m fine whatever it is.”

That goes along with Smith’s thinking. When the Chargers’ need at outside linebacker is mentioned, Smith always interjects.

“Pass rusher,” he corrects.

San Francisco GM Trent Baalke concurs.

“They’re all projections, right?” he said of players making the transition from DE to OLB. “They don’t play it in college. You don’t get a chance outside of maybe a few opportunities to see it on film, dropping and doing the things you’re going to ask him to do as a 3-4 ‘backer. And then you get the pro day workout or the Combine workout or a combination of the two to judge whether they can or can’t do it.

“But that’s really not the most important thing for that position. They’re getting paid to be pass-rushers. That’s No. 1. Then, they’re going to set edges and play the run and do those kinds of things. And what they give you in the drop game has to be just good enough.”